The Gamer's POV

Some time later...

——

Cedric was seated atop the stone ledge of the Grand Cathedral of Fashkire, with both legs dangling over the edge. He was eating a thick skewer of roasted, honey-glazed meat.

Aika sat beside him, eating the same savory treat.

"You really surprised me, you know," he said between bites. "I didn’t know you could do that."

Aika tilted her head slightly. "Do what?"

"Dance," Cedric replied with a relaxed smile.

She shrugged playfully. "I told you. I’m a lady of many talents."

"Well, you were awesome out there."

Aika smiled at the compliment and tugged her hair behind her ear.

After a few quiet seconds, however, her brows furrowed. She turned to Cedric and asked, "Since when did you learn that I couldn’t see faces?"

Cedric turned to her. He pondered his words for a moment, but then gave up, looked away, and shrugged. "Been a while now."

Aika’s eyes widened a bit in shock.

She had suspected that he knew about her condition when he asked earlier if she would be all right. He wasn’t referring to whether she knew how to dance, but rather if she would be all right amidst the noisy, cheering crowd.

Yet, hearing him confirm it still surprised her.

"How did you know about that?"

Cedric was quiet for a few seconds before looking back at her. "Wouldn’t it be weird if I didn’t know everything I could about the only person in the world I care about right now?"

Aika was speechless.

Cedric exhaled and continued, "I know that part of why you don’t make an effort to remember names is because everyone seems the same to you. I don’t know exactly what you see when you look at someone, but I figured it must be something exhausting."

He looked away for a few seconds, and during this time, all Aika did was blink.

Seeing her expression, he offered a gentle smile and bumped his shoulder against hers. "Do you feel better now?"

"Huh?"

When she arched a brow in confusion, he took another bite of his skewer and added, "I know you wanted to come out tonight because you had a lot on your mind. You needed to let loose."

Cedric had not planned on coming all the way out to the festival tonight, but seeing the subtle tension in her stance back in the hallway, he had decided right then to bring her out here to distract her.

"So," he repeated softly, looking down at the glowing lights of the city below. "Do you feel better now?"

"I uh..." she stammered as she looked away. "I think I do feel slightly better. Thank you."

Cedric exhaled in relief.

He shifted his gaze to her, then saw that she was now lost in deep contemplation. So he turned to his side and picked up a tankard. Before coming up here, he had gone to get two more tankards of wine.

He reached one out to her.

Slowly, she took it from his hand, then stared at the liquid for a moment before taking a slow, thoughtful sip.

When she heard his gentle voice again, she turned back to him.

"Whatever is weighing on you must be heavy," he said with a blank expression. "Are you having those memories again? The ones you do not like?" He paused, choosing his words with care. "I know that despite the tough front you put up, you might be terrified of confronting them. It is easier to just look away and pretend they aren’t there."

He turned fully toward her, meeting her gaze. "You don’t need to feel guilty for not being ready to talk about it, Aika."

He reached out and held her cheek. "But I want you to know that you are stronger than you give yourself credit for. You don’t have to keep running from them.

"And when you are finally ready to let me in, just know that I will be right here."

Aika slowly turned away.

She felt her heart race and grow warm because it felt so good to have someone understand her this deeply. For the first time in weeks, she finally felt a bit of courage.

So she made up her mind to confront her fears and let Cedric into her messy world, including the memory of her unfortunate family that she had gotten recently, and how they were somehow involved in the plague Argentos had spoken about some time ago.

However, that would have to wait until the festival was over.

In the meantime, she turned to see Cedric already drunk.

He leaned back against the cold stone wall and closed his eyes, finally seeming tired. Seeing him vulnerable like this, Aika slowly extended her hand, then rested it against his palm.

’There’s something else on my mind,’ she thought as she leaned exceptionally close to him. Her eyes traced his strong jawline, the soft bridge of his nose, then settled on his lips.

She was so close that she could feel his breath against her skin.

Slowly, she reached up, then hovered the tip of her finger just barely above his lips, tracing their shape through the air without actually making contact.

’I really am obsessed with you, Cedric Mortimer...’

It took a lot of restraint to stop herself from closing the distance to taste them.

’I think... this feeling I have for you might be love,’ she thought with a silent sigh.

For a while now, she had been trying to understand her feelings.

Did she like him because he was her bearer?

Did she only feel this way because he was the only person she knew and could be with?

However, today, she realized that it had nothing to do with the bond and their circumstances. She had just come to love everything about him as a person, including his strengths and his many weaknesses.

But...

’I’m scared to admit it...

’Would you ever feel the same way for me?

’Would you see past our bond, and one day come to love me too? Or would you feel burdened by it?’

From what she knew, romantic relationships with bonds weren’t exactly forbidden.

However, it was something that just didn’t happen.

One reason for that was because normally, people from noble backgrounds were required to marry others from other noble backgrounds in order to strengthen their political influence and ensure the purity of their bloodlines.

It would not be proper for the child of a duke or a baron, for instance, to settle for their bond when they could have secured a strategic alliance with a neighboring crown or a more powerful house.

But more than the issue of politics and status, another reason people did not settle with their bonds was because of how people saw them. Till now, no one knew what sort of beings bonds were exactly. Despite them being able to assume a human form, it was not like they were humans, so most dominants just saw them as the source of their magic and treated them as such.

Was a love between her and her bearer possible?

She sighed again, and a deep frown crossed her face.

’I relate to what your previous self said about bonds being something bad that shouldn’t exist. I really hate the fact that I do not even full understand exactly what I am.’

***

Some time later, Aika walked into the bedroom, piggybacking a sleeping Cedric on her back.

She carried him over to the large bed, then laid him down carefully so as not to wake him.

After pulling the blanket over his shoulders, she studied his peaceful face for a long moment, before running a hand through her now messy hair.

’I need a smoke.’

She stood up, but just as she was about to step away toward the window, Cedric held her hand with a loose, heavy grip.

She turned back to see his eyes half-open, clouded with sleep, looking up at her as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t quite find the strength to form the words.

Eventually, he mumbled in a rough, quiet whisper, "Stay."

Aika froze for a second, looking down at his tired face.

Then, she smiled and climbed onto the bed, cuddling up against him and resting her head on his chest.

"Okay," she muttered softly as she closed her eyes.

’I’ll stay with you...’